(NaturalNews) Most Americans have been conditioned to believe that the function of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is to reduce the manufacture, sale and trafficking of illegal drugs. However, one South American nation has thrown a huge wrench into that supposition.

The government of Bolivia recently booted U.S. DEA agents out of the country, and according to a report cited by AntiMedia.com, the Bolivian government has actually managed to reduce drug manufacturing and the criminal activity associated with it since the DEA left.

As reported by the Manquehue web site, dealing in drugs now represents less than 1 percent of the Andean country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in a “sustained reduction” after the ejection of the DEA.

The site further reported:

According to data from the United Nations, Bolivia achieved a reduction in the amount of coca fields — the plant which is used as a raw material for the elaboration of cocaine — approximately in an 11% since the year 2014, and in over a 30% since 2010, which amounts to four consecutive years of decline, from over 30 thousand to some 20 thousand hectares.